A Second Life: Can this online, virtual reality world be used to increase the

overall quality of learning and instruction in graduate distance learning

programs?

Anthony Chow
Instructor
305 Curry Building
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
aschow@uncg.edu
336.334.3411

Sandra Andrews
Assistant Professor
349-E Curry Building
Greensboro, NC 27402-6170
sdandre2@uncg.edu
336.334.5738

Rhonda Trueman
Johnson & Wales University
Charlotte, NC
Rhonda.Trueman@jwu.edu
980-598-1607

Introduction

Second Life is a free, online virtual reality world that has averaged over 1 million new users worldwide in each of its
first three years. What is all the fuss about and what are the implications for use in education? Our presentation will
involve a live demonstration of this virtual reality environment and present research whose initial findings suggest
that several positive benefits are associated with its use in our graduate level distance learning program.

The immediate thought that comes to mind when one hears the words Second Life is a part sarcastic, part tired
thought of, I already have too much to deal with in my first life! This is what many of us were thinking as we
trooped into a presentation and demonstration of Second Life. Expecting another contribution to the social
collaboration tools that are currently redefining the Web, we were greeted instead by a game-like 3D virtual reality
world where users or residents move around and experience a digital environment with a digital-self or avatar.
Several members of our faculty became intrigued with the possibilities such a free, easily accessible environment
presented. We thought: could this be more than just another trivial addition to the Web?

Given the implications for increasing our online presence and providing innovative interactions and support to our
sizeable distance learning student population, many of us decided to take a moment out of our busy first lives to
take a closer look. Should my digital self be tall or short? Fat or skinny? Muscular or slim? Blond or lime green
hair? Five feet or seven feet tall? Faced with such engaging decisions about usually immutable physical
characteristics in a game-like environment, where decisions are immediately rendered in 3D digital images before
your eyes, it did not take long for many of us to become absorbed in this new, expansive, beautifully rendered
virtual world.

Second Life has garnered quite a bit of notoriety since its launch in 2003. As of February 2007 there were over 3
million residents worldwide (Retrieved February 13, 2007 from http://secondlife.com/whatis/). IBM is one of many

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Fortune 500 companies investing large amounts of resources in establishing a commercial presence (Kirpatrick,
2007) and, in the academic world, seemingly every week there is a new article on the impact this virtual world is
having on the real world around it. Why all of the excitement?

Present day society with its affordable computing and high bandwidth infrastructure has made great strides in
catching up with providing the necessary memory, processing speed, and connectivity to experience the full effect of
virtual reality technology. Second Life defines itself as, An online society within a 3D world, where users can
explore, build, socialize, and participate in their own economy (Retrieved February 13, 2007 from
www.secondlife.com). Some say that, similar to real life (referred to simply as RL in Second Life) there does not
appear to be a real goal or end point and although it is initially free, to actually participate or own any land you have
to pay for it (Diski, 2007). But proponents say that this environment adheres to one of the more desirable and
addicting aspects of the computer gaming industry having to figure out what to do in the first place (Wagner,
2007). In addition, virtual worlds today usually offer the opportunity to explore in an online, socially connected
exchange with thousands of other simultaneous users in an immersive environment that is similar, yet different in
many significant ways than the real world (Bixler, 2007; Dede, Clark, Ketelhut, Nelson, and Bowman, 2005).

The literature has found that the use of avatars are particularly effective when addressing motivation-related
outcomes, especially as it is associated with a learners self-efficacy or confidence that one can accomplish or learn
some identified task (Park, 2007; Baylor & Kim, 2004); particularly engaging to users is the ability to manipulate an
avatars ethnicity, gender, and other physical attributes (Park, 2007), which is a major component of the Second Life
experience. Educational purposes, however, focused primarily on two primary aspects of virtual reality: an
immersive environment and social interactions (Bixler, 2007; Dede, Clark, Ketelhut, Nelson, and Bowman, 2005).

What was it that a graduate faculty at a mid-sized southeastern university saw in Second Life that so engaged us?
One of the immediate ways of using this technology was to ask students to participate in this immersive, socially
interactive environment for our distance courses, which typically are a blend of face-to-face, television, and course
Web site. One course has used this environment to provide its face-to-face lecture in a virtual, private sky box
that brings students from three campuses divided by real constraints of distance together into one class room. We
also began holding virtual office hours where students at a distance in particular expressed the desire and ability to
just drop in to talk to a faculty member just like local students can. Second Life has also served as an ever present,
free resource for students to interact with and evaluate a living example of an impressive use of multimedia
technology.

A review of the relatively young body of literature on the educational impact of Second Life suggests that the
primary focus has been on the multifaceted ways people are currently using it, especially in the business sector, but
with no focus on learning outcomes or student attitudes, especially for non-traditional school aged students
represented by graduate students. Although our research is in its preliminary stages, we have used a mixed-method
approach to address two primary questions that we feel will make a significant contribution to the literature:

1. In what ways has the use of Second Life impacted learning and instruction in distance learning programs?

2. How usable is Second Life in terms of utility and general ease-of-use for students and faculty?

Data collection involved natural observation, qualitative interviews, user surveys, and content analysis of discussion
board transcripts.

Method

Participants and Instrumentation

All 18 participants in the study are samples of convenience. The studys sample included three faculty members
from a mid-size southeastern university graduate program that used Second Life as part of their blended (n=3) and
online courses (n=1), a Second Life instructor who teaches virtual seminars, nine graduate students who participated
in a course featuring Second Life as a primary mode of course interaction, and four students who attended a series of
virtual seminars in Second Life (n=4). The data collection period was from January 2007 to October 2007.

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Faculty (n=2). Two of the authors of this study are tenure track faculty members who teach traditional and distance
graduate courses. Each documented how Second Life was used in their courses, how students reacted, and general
thoughts about overall utility and potential use in distance learning.

Second Life Instructor (n=1). The Second Life Instructor teaches several virtual seminars in Second Life and asked
eight of her students a set of six questions including, How quickly did you pick up the skills necessary to be
successful in the class?, What are the positive and negative aspects of learning in a virtual environment?, and
What real life lessons and/or skills were learned from your experience in a virtual environment? A content
analysis was conducted of the four student responses that were received.

Graduate Students (n=9). Students in a face-to-face course studying online collaboration tools used, examined, and
discussed Second Life and its potential use for educational purposes. A content analysis was conducted of student
discussion board transcripts which took place over a one week period (January 28-February 4th, 2007). .

Results

The Wow Factor

Second Life is a free to use three dimensional world that adheres to one of the paramount standards of usability
which is user control or designing a product so that the extent to which the user has control over the actions taken
by the product and the state that the product is in is maximized (Jordan, 1998). Becoming a member of Second Life
is relatively easy and painless and the process and engagement involved in creating a virtual self (referred to as an
avatar in Second Life) is addicting and relatively limitless.

Our program purchased virtual property within Cybrary City, an island where libraries and information resources are
made available in Second Life and each of our faculty created their own avatar. A photo of the faculty virtual avatars
in front of our virtual building is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - Faculty Avatars and Department's Virtual Building

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Presented with the ability to freely change an avatars features, clothing, and virtual possessions, our faculty quickly
embraced Second Life as a vibrant place for exploration and social collaboration with tremendous possibilities for
our graduate program: Social collaboration amongst faculty and students, three dimensional information seeking
both for reference and program marketing purposes, and classroom presentations and work groups in small group
settings.

One of the biggest problems with attempting to conduct a class within a public building is the potential for anyone to
interrupt class, which in the real world is clearly inappropriate but in the virtual world is a facet of understanding the
dynamics of the SL social situation. In order to protect against this, one of our faculty members created a private
virtual skybox that can only be accessed through private invitation. Figure 2 shows an avatar seated in our virtual
classroom in the sky.

Figure 2 - Private virtual classroom in the sky

Faced with a blended course involving over 80 students across three campuses statewide, one of the authors of the
study felt Second Life would be an ideal opportunity to build stronger collaboration between students from different
campuses. The use of Second Life, however, turned out not to be that simple.

Second Life Meets Academic Reality

To enter the world of Second Life the computer you are using must have the Second Life software installed and
have the computing hardware in terms of RAM, processing speed, and graphics card necessary to run this robust
software. Prepared to present to the entire class from the classroom teaching station, the author realized that the
software had not been preinstalled by technical support and impromptu installations were not allowed without an
administrator password. The long awaited preview of Second Life had to wait a little longer.

The following week Second Life was successfully previewed in class and all students were informed that in
conjunction to the authors on campus office hours, virtual office hours would also be available in Second Life. In
addition, the author brought up the possibility of conducting a full class session completely in Second Life. While
the feedback from students were predominately positive regarding the wow factors of being able to create a virtual

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self, fly and move freely around a three dimensional virtual world, and meet new people in a uncontrolled
environment, the overall course outcomes were less favorable. No class meeting was ever held in Second Life
because a small, yet significant minority of students could not access it through their older computers and when
these students approached their campus academic libraries all were told that Second Life was not installed on the
library computers and could not be without a strong rationale from the instructor. Due to time constraints, the author
did not attempt to articulate this rationale as it would have involved engaging with three university libraries
simultaneously. The authors virtual office hours also mirrored the overall usage of physical office hours, which
was not utilized at all and a surprise since the availability for individual student contact had been increased by over
50% by making synchronous office hours available to the two distance sections1. The following semester, one of
the authors decided to try again and offer virtual office hours via Second Life to an entirely online course. This
attempt met a similar fate where no student took advantage of this opportunity to drop in to meet with the
instructor during posted virtual office hours.

A second author of this study had students engage with Second Life as a focus of a class as it provided an
environment rich in learning resources and an opportunity to conduct class and discussion in an online environment.
Students were introduced to Second Life in a face-to-face class where they were given the opportunity to interact
with the instructors and other students in making their initial foray into the alternative world of Second Life. Many
of the students were apprehensive in developing their avatars and making initial contact with other participants in
this environment. They came together as a class in the online environment to receive instruction and explore
learning opportunities. Instructors planned and conducted a journey with the students bringing the class to specific
locations and then discussing the uses of the particular landmarks or locations within Second Life. Students were
able to bookmark landmarks for further exploration and were able to ask questions of other students and instructors
as the tour progressed.

Class was also held in Second Life with mixed results. The idea of having a real time chat in the online environment
was beneficial but the use of a virtual physical space may have been unnecessary for the content of the particular
class. The use of PowerPoint and notes within the virtual classroom, however, added a more dynamic element to the
class and made better use of the tools that Second Life offers to an instructor. The class offered an opportunity for
both instructors and students to operate in a virtual environment both synchronously and asynchronously; exploring
the resources and meeting with each other. Problems that arose centered on the fear of technology and the learning
curve of some students but everyone in the class was able to overcome their hesitations and participate in the virtual
classes with a minimum of difficulty.

Student comments varied widely in their perceptions of this first experience. All nine students found Second Life to
have uniquely positive aspects for educational purposes: it connects users to a wide array of information resources, it
provides residents with the ability to fly and transport ones avatar from one place to another, it provides a
generally stimulating, immersive, and interactive learning environment, it allows users to virtually experience
information as opposed to just reading text, it socially connects people and organizations from different parts of the
country and world who you would probably never meet in real life, it is a cost effective way to meeting virtually
as opposed to actually face-to-face with other people, it provides opportunities for virtual field trips and simulated
experiences, and, in general, the 3D world is much more conducive to an online educational learning environment
then traditional flat, one dimensional text-driven digital displays.

There were also a number of negative aspects. First and foremost, were the technical issues involving the need for
robust computing and connectivity - one student reported having his computers graphics card malfunction. In
addition, students ran into the general prohibition of the use of such software2 in public computing environments
where students tried to take advantage of more robust hardware to use Second Life. Another primary point brought
up was the potential of wasting time and challenge of time-on-task especially when attempting to teach a large
number of students. An additional issue was that while the uncontrolled environment of Second Life can prove
educationally stimulating at the same time it does make it a challenge to manage the learning experience and ensure

1
The course included three sections, one face-to-face local section, and two distance sections.
2
Second Life is not a Web site that you connect to but instead requires you download its client software directly
onto the computer you are trying to connect with. This causes major issues in attempting to access Second Life in
public computing environments such as public or academic libraries because most prohibit downloading of
unauthorized software.

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consistency in student experiences. Finally, while online collaboration can be quite enjoyable and successful at
times, students brought up the concern of the coldness and artificial reality associated with technology as an explicit
danger, especially when faced with the thought of entirely replacing real human interaction with a digital, virtual
world.

Providing Instruction in Second Life

Two applied examples of how Second Life is currently being used for instruction are continuing education Virtual
Librarianship courses offered by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and a technology course taught at
San Jose State University.

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Illinois Alliance Library System has made use of virtual
adjuncts to teach continuing education, no-credit, six week courses in Second Life. Five courses have been offered,
two in the summer 2007 and three in fall 2007, with an average class size of 20-30 students per course. These
classes are taught by librarians in Second Life and have covered such topics as Intermediate Virtual World
Librarianship, Virtual World Librarianship in Second Life, and Libraries and Immersive Learning in 3D Virtual
Environments. Table 1 below shows the general breakdown of one of these courses:

Table 1 - Virtual Course Overview

Virtual World Librarianship in Second Life Course Overview

Week One: Introduction to Libraries in Virtual Worlds

Week Two: Second Life 101
Week Three: Collections, Resources, and Exhibits in Virtual Environment
Week Four: Reference and Information Services in Virtual Worlds
Week Five: Managing and Working in a Virtual Library or Department
Week Six: Skills Needed by 21st Century Librarians in Virtual Worlds

Jeremy Kemp at San Jose State University taught a section of Information Technology Tools and Applications in
summer 2007 that included bringing students into Second Life and having them work on projects with Second Life
librarians to illustrate examples of how the software they were studying was being applied as well as to locate virtual
resources around designing advanced Web applications using technology such as dynamic HTML and XML and
Web programming languages such as XSLT, JavaScript, JSP, Perl, PHP, MYSQL, and ASP.

One of authors of this study works for Second Life as an Assistant Director/Operations Manager for the Alliance
Library System's Info Island Archipeligio. As part of the study, she asked her students about Second Life. Two
students worked with her on a business/tourism project called Virtual Morocco and answered her questions in
Second Life. A second pair of students she worked with in a class being taught at a local university answered
questions via email.

In response to the question, How quickly did you pick up the skills necessary to be successful in the class? all four
students responded that they had easily picked up the needed skills quickly and felt confident about using Second
Life within two to three weeks. The more experienced students initially were called upon to do more advanced tasks
in Second life and were taught building and scripting skills, which they learned with relative ease. Students felt that
the most positive aspects of learning in a virtual environment were that it was: Collaborative, asynchronous,
involved visual and kinetic learning, and provided opportunities for interaction with others inside and outside of the
class. The major negative aspects of learning in a virtual environment involved: Problems with technology, high end
requirements, Second Life downtime for maintenance, use of traditional classroom teaching methods while in the
virtual world, problems encountered from disputative Second Life residents, and learning to communicate textually
requiring instantaneously formulating answers and responses and fast typing skills3. In terms of the most valuable
lessons learned from working with Second Life the students listed the following: Time management, self reliance,
leadership, teaching, social networking, graphic arts and design, experience working with virtual groups, and
experience with virtual reference.

3
Second Life has added a voice component that should help alleviate this requirement.

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 Discussion and Conclusion

Teaching and Learning Opportunities in Second Life

The use of Second Life in graduate education and in teaching and learning environments in general are not limited to
distance learning. As a free resource that in the past would have been cost prohibitive, Second Life represents a
relatively open access, immersive virtual 3D learning environment that has many potential uses in teaching and
learning environments. Based on the results of our study and review of the literature, here are some of the major
teaching and learning opportunities Second Life represents:

Placing an Avatar with a Name - In the past, and for the most part even today, a typical synchronous online
interaction in distance education involves text-based chat. Users are defined by their user name and communicate by
typing text based messages. Second Life, ironically also uses text-based chat as the primary method for
communication. Changing the communication environment from a flat, text based one dimensional interface to a
rich, multi-color, 3D environment that allows users to represent themselves with virtual avatars or representations of
themselves. As student isolation is one of the major problems associated with distance education, the ability to
place an avatar with a name and add the aspects of non-verbal representations of personality and feeling, has
significant implications for social collaboration and communication in online environments. While sharing the major
benefit of online, synchronous communication, which is to not have to meet face-to-face at a specific physical
location, Second Life adds many additional layers through virtual representations of physical characteristics and
communication to this online interaction.

Synchronous Virtual Information Seeking - Unlike navigating a Web site, in Second Life you have the
opportunity to interact with both static information and synchronously with other users. The concept of adding a
synchronous, three-dimensional aspect to online information seeking is one of the aspects of Second Life that has
captured the attention of the corporate world. The same benefits apply to teaching and learning environments where
students can both access digital content in Second Life while at the same time engaging in a discussion with a
student or instructor. In addition, other users through their virtual avatars serve as additional resources that otherwise
would not available. For example, at Cybrary Island, information science buildings from across the world are housed
together ranging from the US to Europe to Asia. Interaction amongst instructors and students are frequent and,
engaging in discussions around mutual topics of interest that is truly global in nature, has many possibilities.

A Virtual World Allows for Virtual Experiences and Resources - In Second Life you have the ability to
perform tasks, create objects and environments, and interact with people and objects that you cannot do in real life.
For example, you can fly, teleport, and generally control and customize your avatar in unlimited ways. Outside of
the social consequences of being able to create a digital self, creating virtual learning environments or interacting
with existing content rich ones is where Second Life excels. Although like most online instruction, planning and
preparation is necessary to find relevant resources and to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of instruction,
Second Life can be used as virtual field trips so that students can not only find relevant resources but also potentially
have the opportunity to see and interact with 3D digital information as well as other users as information resources.

Technology as a Nexus Point - The Internet and the Web connect people and information together.
Traditionally this is done through digital information usually in the form of text, graphics, video, and document/file
exchanges. In distance education, television/video conferencing, Web cams and Web casts, threaded discussion
boards, and synchronous chat are the predominate mediums in which collaboration is achieved in one-to-many
instructor-to-student educational environments. Web conferencing software, which integrates Web video, file
sharing, and synchronous chat is highly desirable in the delivery of distance education but is extremely costly and
usually involves dedicated internal resources and support by the distance program. Second Life offers a potential
nexus point in which distance programs can utilize this virtual world at little or no cost for its instructors and
students. Social connection and collaboration in many ways is the easiest to attain in Second Life and at the same
time helps meet an essential need for distance students.

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Challenges of Using Second Life

Technology Although broadband connectivity and computing power continues to become more robust
and inexpensive, to operate in the vibrant digital world of Second Life takes high end computing power. This poses
a significant barrier equally for instructors and students as computers that are only a couple of years old may not
have a high end enough graphic card able to handle Second Lifes robust graphics. With the increasing popularity of
Second Life this poses a unique digital divide that previously did not exist. In addition, as Second Life requires a
software client download, it is difficult to use public computers thereby severely limiting its overall portability.

Allocation of Time and Resources Second Life is time intensive for many reasons. First, it is highly
addicting because of the large number of options and overall control it provides users, especially as a users avatar is
the virtual representation of that user and therefore usually garners careful attention to such details as height, weight,
hair color, skin color, general physical features, and certainly clothes. Second, learning how to operate in this virtual
world, although relatively intuitive, takes some acclimation and experimentation. Third, is the time and resources it
takes to create a digital instructional environment (to have personal space you must purchase virtual property),
which can be substantial. Training for students must also be factored in. Fourth, is the amount of set up time and
technical support required to ensure all students are successfully able to access the high end computing resources
necessary to interact with Second Life. Lastly, in terms of instructional design, attempting to use standard classroom
teaching methods in a digital world usually does not translate very well, especially if it is almost completely chat
based. The addition of voice communication will help mitigate this problem.

Uncontrolled Learning Environments A users avatar is called a resident in Second Life. Unfortunately, a
majority of residents are not in Second Life for educational purposes and therefore, when trying to provide
instruction there is always a chance that an instructor or students will be interrupted. In addition, similar to the
impact laptop driven wireless computing has in classroom settings, the opportunity for students to lose interest or
become easily distracted is considerable.

Conclusion

Distance learning programs use course management systems to organize and deliver content as well as manage
course functions. Second Life represents another medium in which to engage and collaborate with students or have
students engage with peers. At a cursory level, this unique digital virtual world allows for more complex social
interaction as it introduces personal expression through virtual avatars that bring virtual non-verbal communication
and interaction. At more complex, well planned levels, Second Life becomes a vibrant learning environment where
self-exploration, virtual tours, and access to a diverse set of users are easily accessible and available.

Distance learning is a great way to allow students who are scattered geographically to take advantage of a class that
does not require face-to-face classroom instruction. While the technology is in place to facilitate distance learning,
the actual class experiences of traditional distance learners can be less than satisfying for the student and the
instructor. From the student's perspective it is more difficult to form relationships with others in the class and the
instructor. While the materials may be fully covered and the assignments completed, graded and returned
electronically the overall experience lacks the kind of connection students feel in a standard class. Second Life, and
other virtual environments help bridge this gap by giving students the feeling of being present with other classmates
and with the instructor. They have the ability to talk to each other during class in private instant messaging and to
ask questions of the instructor as the questions arise naturally out of the lesson plan. Although this is still a form of
electronic communication, it creates a shared experience for the students and instructor. It is difficult to explain the
connection, but one of the Linden Labs employees, Pathfinder Linden, calls this connection "emotional bandwidth."
It adds an element of depth that cannot be achieved in a standard distance learning situation.

Another way that Second Life and other virtual environments will impact distance learning is to enable a greater
variety of classes to be taught. In a 3D environment, instructors may now demonstrate instruction as well as lecture
and students may work together to create projects within the virtual world. In addition, with access to a greater
number of global residents the opportunity for synergy and collaboration expands. The technology of 3D virtual
worlds is being expanded and improved and many private and public organizations are creating virtual spaces that
someday will be tied together much like web pages of today. These early explorations of education in Second Life
will help to build a foundation for virtual education of the future.

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